THE BRITISH VICTORY IN GALLIPOLI

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2507, 7 July 1915, Page 8

THE BRITISH VICTORY IN GALLIPOLI

BATTLE" OF JUNE 28 HOW THE "BOOMERANG "WAS CARRIED ■ AWFUL SPECTACLE IN ENEMY'S TRENCHES • By Telegraph—Press Aeßociatlon-Copyriiiht i London, July o. j Renter's: agent at tlio Dardanelles | gives■ details of. -tho/British victory on | Juno-28 (an account of which has- alToacly appeared-- in tho published dis- .. ..patch from Sir. Lan Hamilton). The , British success" oii Juno 4 left a- bulge ' ( . a thousand yards deop in-tlie cejitre. . V .The: French advanco on Juno 21 .parti-. : corrccted'the inequality.ouitho.rigliV • . ; .flank, but progress on the leftim,this: ' ' . yuarter had bcon incossant sinco June V Tho r British drove', the Turks! from :i' ' -trench- to .-.trench with, bombs;- The - Turks .desperately, and '-.'short,, bloody... scuff lea '^courr^ed.,nightly!' ■*. . The -.condition' of - the: newly occupied </; j ; irenelie's Cheats' sipkemii'g' .witness to :,the' desperateicharacter, of. those unchronicled. A Preliminary Hammering. .■: if v.. 1 ; The .main weight--of .'the? attack oil v ■/Juno 58 :'was launched ■.against . tbe trenches running - across v the plateau , ■ :irom tho.cliffs seaward/to.the bottom of tlio - deep rav.me, of. Saghir Dere. The.preparatory artillery hammering" was ' : tho ; greatcsfh tlw 'rurks'-iad iyet; experi- . ieiiced.i. -It began »t»-9 Volocl£."in the "A Cafio Helles ... fired with i dcadly; precision/-air observa/tion balloon : directing- tho- > fire. -An bomb the r-iballoon,- but missed,, and was driven off; ,/ '•.iField girns.'opsned at 10:30with:tlie obi destroying!) the/Hdntanglements/; < and-were r coinplete]yi successhiljv.cutting jfv-:: gaps' all'alohg the as:.shownsby,the -v, speed :ol the victorious 1 infantry, attack; iA* ' . The A ttack on - tlie ■" Boomerang." /- ■' When -'tlie ■ artillery ..work': 'had : been. • ' finished/ tlio infantry'started. . - Its-first

oljjectivo; wasothei.lioomerangtFortii.m . .. the -bottom of Saglnr Dere;r:Tlio BoomV 2 '•' erang ■ consisted, of av itiam 'trench'/and .' innumerable,'saps running along l -"tho ravine.-,-Before the:bombardment began . only-,a fow yards separated .the British from, the Boomerang, Fort- but tho space • • .was -filled with entanglements,'.and any- . -v one,showing above the sandbag -parapets ' courted death. . ■(. • The task-of capturing;.the;Boomerang '. .was;-assigned- to a. -.. famous. '..Tegiment' ~ winch: has-'.undergone A'Tecord- of' splen- .... did 'service since, it landed. fl-Tlie .men, crouched under the parapets on the plat- '. forms' and ladders witn nfles at, ' the :.i ready.-?' Tho . artillery briefly pounded : ; the Boomerang.ivith: high explosives; :•« ("then: at: a signal, the men . spraug, 'over, sit a singlo hound, and rushed a'cross :: v tlie ■: intervening -ground, sustaining a surprisingly ' small ■". and dropped ' . . iiito, the lnain Boomerang trench.

. ' Main Attack ! Launched. , The; main attack was- launched :at, 11 ' o'clock. : Three battalions rushed .the first three . lines • of i trenches -on the j plateau through ■ gaps ill the wire, : • and a■, carried, tho trenches'-.'brilliantly;. . The trenches were full of dead; and a hundred survivors surrendered. A further advance from the captured trenches began-, at 11.30, and two • more lines -were taken. This was tho most spectacular iinoment of the day. The space covered consisted of several,hundred. yards .of

open ground, and. the:men. advanced ; magnificently over it,.-as: if ;no enemy ' ; was near, with the-sun glinting on their bayonets. . 1 During -the afternoon', the-'.: Turkish* artillery was active, but it was out- . . - ranged bv ours, which- hammered-, the- - Turks throughout their retirement. The ■ British, beforo evening, carried the two remaining lines of trenches, and also - , a small ravine beyond. ■■■•. ■ r m- At.night 400 ; Turks - worked down the Saghir l)ere ravine, and ascended. -the plateau between the first and second • lines of conquered trenches. They were ' r s . discovered,vand caught in .the centre ; by Maxim- and rifle fire, and only. 100 regained the lavine. \;: J1 ;....f,An Appalling Spectacle. - After'.the- fight on June 28 the- cap- •: ■ tured enemy trenches presented an ap- ; palling spectacle, especially 4h6 Nullah . -and Boomerang trenches: lintho bottom • of the .Nullah-dead Turks-were lying in ; ; ' ' shalloiv pools of, green .water. > ,Manv :had been. lying : thero: for months/ and could not-be buried. In the Boomerang - .trench tlio stench- was frightful. The had-been built up over the ; bodies of" dead. /.Turks,:. ; for,:ythe; Turks used tho .dead: as -.-bullet-stoppers, and' after t-lie fight-threw;earth,over them to mako. parapets - : :In t-ho Turkish ■ trenches the' limbs of v.V half-buried Turks ■ stuck up' from ' the' :■ ground.-:. One trencli- was full of half- . jimmmiiied bodies. Part of the Boom-;V.:.-7.'erwig.Vtreiich ■■r; " Turks, with a dozen cricket-ball bombs V' V lyj n E 'at: their feet ready for use. The 'Kirks had occupied the trench fo'r.weeks. . '' shielded by the bodies 'of tlieir' conir i . , Tifiles, breatjuiii; in an intolerable stench and walking over, the liaif-buried dead . whenever they -moved; yet. they, fought ir 5 • later would bo used as a. substitute for sandbags or stamped into the rooking '! . clay. -V 'VV ' tVast. amounts ,of equipment and a ' large liuitiber of machino-guns were cap--tared.-' Flies -make; this 1 au ill country for the wouuded, especially ■: our. men-' iWo gained a,-mile of ground along tho fe'a coast as tlie result of the' battle.